As deregulation and liberalisation has led to the emergence of global financial markets, banks expanded their international operations and moved into multiple lines of financial business. They developed complex risk management strategies that have allowed them to price financial products and hedge their risk exposures in a manner that improves expected profits, but which may generate more risk and increase liquidity problems in certain circumstances. 9 The limited liability structure of most banks and financial firms, combined with the premium placed on shareholder profits, provides incentives for bank officers to undertake increasingly risky behaviour to achieve higher profits without.
